Of Magic’s more recent mechanics, Treasure Tokens are among the most powerful. Creating instant mana, even if it’s limited use, leads to extremely efficient plays. Thanks to this, cards like Jolene, the Plunder Queen can be insanely powerful; however, she’s remarkably not played that much. With the right support, Jolene can become a massive powerhouse thanks to doubling your Treasure production.
MTG Jolene, the Plunder Queen
While she has a lot going on, Jolene‘s biggest payoff is her replacement effect. This works best with cards that can create multiple instances of Treasures, like Knuckles, the Echidna, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, and Professional Face-breaker. Similarly, Bootleggers’ Stash is particularly nasty with Jolene, essentially doubling the mana your lands produce.
This already creates tons of mana, but some Treasure payoffs make this game plan even more efficient. Token doublers, from Xorn to Doubling Season, increase the value that Jolene provides exponentially. Goldspan Dragon and Alchemist’s Talent, meanwhile, can double the mana that your Treasures produce, creating four mana per Treasure alongside Jolene.
While all of these payoffs are already incredible, Academy Manufactor is probably the biggest payoff here, creating tons of extra artifacts to use. While Clues and Food can be kind of clunky, Jaheira, Friend of the Forest can allow all your tokens to tap for green without being sacrificed. This can set you up to cast massive spells turn over turn, taking over the game in a flash.
Even with all this value, however, Jolene still needs a way to actually win the game. Biotech Specialist, Reckless Fireweaver, and Ingenious Artillerist provide some on-theme ways to do this, turning Treasures into burn damage. Failing that, however, Jolene’s final ability gives her a Voltron-esque option, making equipment like Embercleave more effective than normal.
It’s easy to forget, but Jolene has a political ability too, rewarding opponents’ infighting with extra Treasure tokens. This lets you take advantage of some sweet tech, like Pain Distributor, Bloodroot Apothecary, and Viridian Revel that benefit from your opponent’s Treasures. You could also pair this with cards like Curse of Opulence to make attacking specific players even more appealing.
Infinite Riches!
Like many artifact-based infinites, Clock of Omens easily becomes problematic with Jolene, creating a few different infinite combos. Alongside the new Coin of Mastery, for example, Jolene can create infinite tapped Treasure tokens.
Since Coin of Mastery will create two Treasures each time it taps, Clock of Omens can use those Treasures to untap Coin and repeat the process. Alongside untapping with infinite mana, Jolene can also use these to grow infinitely, knocking out opponents with Commander damage.
Outside of Clock of Omens combos, Jolene, the Plunder Queen can also create infinite combats with Goldspan Dragon and Aggravated Assault. When attacking together, Jolene and Goldspan Dragon create eight mana’s worth of Treasures. This is more than enough to activate Aggravated Assault, netting infinite mana and infinite combats.
Shockingly Underplayed
By all metrics, Jolene looks like an absolutely incredible Commander, which is why her low play rate is so shocking. With only 3,580 Commander decks according to EDHREC, Jolene is criminally underplayed as a Commander, offering players a hidden opportunity. The card is significantly more popular in the 99, however, appearing over 29,000 different decks.
Sadly, because Jolene is such an incredible card for Treasure decks, she doesn’t come cheap, as prices start at $9.03. While this is partially due to Jolene’s popularity, she also has only one printing, appearing only in New Capenna’s Riveteer Rampage precon. That said, as proven by her popularity, Jolene is easily worth the money for the right decks.
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